ALBERT BECK WENZELL (1864-1917)

"Geraldine was sitting there calmly reading, in the moment of her deadliest disdain." Story illustration for "The Enemy" by George Randolph Chester, published in Hearst's Magazine, September 1914, Vol. 26, No. 3, page 309. Gouache en grisaille on board. 840x594 mm; 33x23½ inches. Signed "A. Wenzell" in lower right image. Framed.Provenance: Maxwell Galleries (label on verso); thence to present owner.The Detroit-born Wenzell was a successful illustrator best known for his depictions of high society, especially of fashionable young women in drawing rooms, as Geraldine is shown in this painting. He moved to New York City and became an important figure in its art world as a member of the National Society of Mural Painters and the Society of Illustrators, which he co-founded and served as President in 1902.